A Discussion On Masonic Knights Templar Will The Real Masonic Knights Ternplar Please Stand Up?

Some may consider the statements that I'm about to make and the lecture I'm about to give to be controversial. I've made the statements before, the last time at our Grand Conclave, and I'll make the statements again. We are not simply Knight's Templar. We are Masonic Knight's Templar, with the emphasis on Masonic. Typically we call ourselves, Master Masons, Royal Arch Masons, Royal and Select Masons, many Sir Knights refer to themselves as simply Knights Templar. For Masonic Knights Templar there appears to be no necessity to reference Masonry in their title. May be it is because all Sir Knights know they are Masons, but for some reason the other York Rite branches of Masonry thought it important to include.

Material that I came across while researching this topic indicated that when the Masonic Knights Templar of England and the High Knights Templar of Ireland formed into one body in the 19th century, they proclaimed, among other things, that the title Masonic was not to used in conjunction with Knight's Ternplar, as the Order was not strictly Masonic because at that time only Christians were allowed to join. Consequently, they felt that the tile Masonic Knight's Templar was not appropriate. I believe this was also the time when some of them stopped wearing aprons. Maybe this is one explanation why the term Masonic is often not used when referring to Knights Templar or it could simply be for convenience.

Whatever the reason, if referring to ourselves as "Knight's Ternplar" is no big deal, why do I feel that I need to keep re-iterating that it is not? Why am I making a mountain out of mole hill?

I keep making these statements because it is important that not only do we make the distinction between Knight's Templar and Masonic Knight's Templar, but that we also understand and are clear on this distinction. Since we all know that we are not the Knight's Templar offore gone days, why you may as)" is it important? My response is because over the years it appears, at least to me, that we are getting away from or loosing sight of what makes a Mason a Knight's Templar and away from my understanding of why Knight's Templarism, as we know it today, became a part of Masonry. We have been placing more and more emphasis on the exoteric and less and less emphasis on the esoteric. After all it is not the external, it is the internal qualification of a man that Masonry regards. To support my statements, let's examine what is happening by looking at a few obvious things.

We have been placing a great emphasis on our uniforms. Uniformity and having consistent uniforms to identify whom we are is important, just as aprons, jewels and collars identify who we are in other bodies of Masonry. But dressing up in uniforms does not make us Masons, or Knight's Templar. Furthermore; our uniforms are not the uniforms even worn by the Knight's Templar. The frock coat and chapeau are similar

organization. This is a figure of speech to indicate what we stand for by emulating the Knights Templar of the crusades. Military is defined as relating to soldiers, arms and war. Vole are soldiers , but not solders in the sense of a military. We are supposed to be Christian solders, but how much emphasis are we putting on teaching and practicing Christian principles. We carry arms but our arms are ceremonial. We are in a war, but the war we are fighting is not physical, is not to draw blood. It is a spiritual war. We are fighting for our souls. One author wrote that no longer is it necessary to fight with material weapons, for today, "The pen is mightier than the sword" and the weapon of the knights of today is the influence of a good lifo, carried out as set forth in the New Dispensation- "That we love one another".

The military inspections and tactics are fine, but they have little or nothing to do with Masonry or more particularly, Chivalric Masonry.

My Brother and my Fraters, I want to make sure you understand from whence I'm corning. I see no conflict in being engaged in activities or issues that have little or no Masonic significance as these are often necessary, just as in other branches of Masonry, to keep the organization going. Vle have to take care of business and have some fun while doing it. But I believe that we are chipping away at our foundation, little by little. There is less Masonry at our meetings, in all branches of Masonry, and more ofthe other stuff. Ifwe are not careful, one day we may find, if we still have an organization, that we have an organization that we do not recognized.

So the concern I am raising here is that the activities and issues previously discussed regarding Templarism, and others I did not mention, are not being done or utilized in conjunction with , but at the expense of Chivalric Masonry.

As further support of all my statements so far, let's discuss how or why the Knight's Templar, that we recognized today, came into being. Whether you believe Masonry began as a result of the suppression of the Knight's Templar of old, or originated in the craft man guilds, we can all agree that symbolic Masonry adopted the tools of the operative masons to explain the dogma of Masonry. We have the operative masons who are builders of physical structures. And we have the speculative Masons who arc builders of spiritual temples. In my view, one could say that Masonic Knights Templar are speculative Knights Templar as they adopted the Christian principles and symbols of the Knight's Templar to also explain the dogma of Masonry. The Knight 's Ternplars of old physically fought to protect Christians. The Masonic Knights Templar of today are spiritually fighting to protect souls.

Some time ago I was given reading material by the Grand Lecturer of the Masonic Knight's Templar, whose name happened to be Ronald Barber. The title of one of the Chapter was "The Place Of Templary In The Masonic System". The author basically stated that Masonic Knight 's Templarism was a natural progression to teach the lessons of Masonry from a Christian perspective to those Masons that were Christian and believed that the true word was Jesus the Christ. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God". It was a new direction in

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Truth, Love, Faith, Charity, Fortitude and all of the above virtues. We meet the first hermit whose Jesson is "Chr ist also suffered for us, leaving us an example tbat we should follow his steps". Then we meet the second hermit whose Jesson reads, "But to do good, and to communicate, forget for which sacrifices God is well pleased. Remember, them that are in bonds and bound with them, and them which suffer adversity as being yourself also in the body. Be not weary in well doing, for in do season we shall reap if we faint not". The lesson of the third hermit is that Charity shall cover the multitude of sins . He states that, "If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be warm and filled, not withstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit. Be though faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life.

Charity, Hospitality, Mercy, Benevolence After 3 years of pilgrimage, the pilgrim again requests to become a Knight's Ternplar, but as a trial of his courage and constancy the Eminent Commander enjoins upon him to perform warfare for his 4 remaining years. The Eminent Commander explains that charity and hospitality are the grand characteristics of this valiant and magnanimous Order stating that, "As Knights we are bound to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give water to the thirsty and bind up the wounds if the afflicted".

Faith, Benevolence, Charity, Fortitude The pilgrim warrior performs 3 years of this warfare and then again requests to be admitted to the ranks of the Templars. The Eminent Conunander informs him that as proof of his fidelity he can not be admitted without participating in 5 libations. Each libation is accompanied by a lesson. After the first libation the Eminent Commander reminds us of the lesson imparted by, King Solomon, our first Grand Master, " Fear God and keep his commandments". After the second libation we are reminded of the lesson given us by Hiram King of Tyre, "To be great is to be good, and he who would perpetuate his Dame to posterity must enable it by acts of charity and deeds of PU((': benevolence" . And after the third libation we remembered Grand Master Hiram Abiff and the lesson he left us by his example, highlighted by the Eminent Commander saying "Let us emulate his example and yield our lives rather than forfeit our integrity".

It is important to pause here to emphasize what the Eminent Commanders says. He states, "These libations in honor of these Illustrious Grand Masters of Ancient Craft Masonry are taken in acknowledgement of our connection with and veneration for and fidelity to that honorable institution.

Faith, Justice Part of the lesson after the third libation, which our ritual calls the first lesson, is about betrayal by Judas Iscariot. Our ritual states, "Let this teach you that he who willfully violates his vow, or betrays his trust is worthy of no better fate than that which Judas suffered.

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The question I want you to ask yourself now is why you became a Knight's Templar? Was it merely curiosity? Was it because you were asked by a friend? Was it because you liked the uniforms? Was it because you liked to march? Was it because you needed the affiliation to become a Shriner? Was it because you needed to join in your effort to become a Knight of the York Cross of Honor? Was it just to obtain the highest degree in York Rite Masonry? Or was obtaining more Masonic knowledge as important to you? Was it all of the above or none of the above?

We all probably have different reasons for joining. Who is to say which is better than the other? The reality is that you, we are here. What are you going to do now that you here? What are we going to do now that we are here? Are we going to take the time to find out what being a Masonic Knight's Ternplar is all about or are we going to be relegated to what many of those who question and possibly ridicule our intentions (the profane) see us as, a bunch of old men playing army. The choice is yours. Thank you for listening.

Yours in Knightly Courtesy,

~~~~ o ~ Calvin E. Ligons M Past Eminent Commander Matthias F. Emmanuel Commandery No. 14 September 25, 2008

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Golgotha

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is referred to in early as the hill resembling a skullcap located very near the gates of Jerusalem of the tongue of our forefather it's called The skull-pan of a head. The gospel describe it as a place near enough to the city that those coming in and out could read the inscription "Jesus of Nazareth-King of the Jews

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When King James Version was written the translator used the anglicized version -Calvary- of Latin gloss from the vulgate to refer to Golgotha in the gospel of Luke the location itself is found in all four canonical Gospels

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~ Mark :And they brought him to the place Golgotha ~ Matthew: And when they came to a place called

Golgotha ~ Luke :And when they came to the place which is called

the skulls there they crucified him and the criminals ,one on the right a and one on the left

~ John: So they took Jesus and he went out, bearing his own cross to the place which is called in Hebrew Golgotha.

The place of the skull is Aramaic etymology is based on the Hebrew verbal root GULGOLET means skulls. The Aramaic name is actually Go Goatha meaning mount of execution Goatha is mention in the book of Jeremiah An alternative explanation is is that the location was a place ofpublic execution, and the name refers to abandon skulls that would be found here or was neer a cemetery-the name refers to the bene buried-there In some Christian and Jewish tradition Golgotha refers to the location ofAdam skull a common version states the Shem and Me/chizedek traveled to the resting place of Noah's Ark, retrieved the body ofAdam from it and were led by Angel To Golgotha­described a skull-shaped hill at the center of the earth.

TEM PLAR RULES OF ORDER REVIEW

1.) M inut es can be altered or amended after it

has been confirmed by a vote of the

Com mandery, exce pt by one who has voted in

the affirmative moving a reconsideration( TIF)

2. After t he minutes have been read he reg ular

order of business shall proceed as laid down

in the by- laws, except t he Eminent

Commander decides otherwise.{T/F)

3.) On all pu blic occasions except funerals, if in

full uniform, the Sir Knight shall wear buff

gloves, but on all funeral occasions, whether

w hite gloves. (TIF)

ORDER OF THE RED CROSS PART 2

1. Select Master- Companion Warder J ascertain if any candidates are in waiting

for the Illustrious Order of the Red Cross.

2. Warder will go to the door to ascertain from the sentinel and reports.

3. Select Master- ask the warder J has the candidate complied with the statutes.

4. Warder- he has

5. Select Master - if there are no objections we will confer the Illustrious Order of

the Red Cross.

6. Now a Grand Council will be opened in the council chamber under the direction

of our Excellent High Priest.

7. Warder- Most Excellent High Priest J there is an alarm at the door.

8. Excellent High Priest - attend to the alarm.

9. Warder - will go to the door. who comes here.

10. Companion Conductor- a Holy Royal Arch Mason having received all the

necessary preceding degrees in Ancient York Right Masonry J now solicits the

honor of being admitted to the Grand Council.

11. Warder- how does he expect to gain admission.

12. Companion Conductor- by the benefit of the Grand Ommnific Holy Royal Arch

word.

13. Warder- he has the word.

14. Companion Conductor- he has and with your assistance will communicate it .

15. Warder- let it be done. The w ord is right . The w arder t hen report s tha t th e

Holy Royal Arch Ma son who having received all t he necessary preceding degrees

of Ancient York Right Masonary now solicits the honor of being admitted to the

grand council.

16. Excellent High Priest- how does he expect to gain admission.

17. Warder- by the benefit of the Grand Omnific Holy Royal Arch Word which he

has correctly communicated.

18. Excellent High Priest- admit him.

DEFINITIONS OF THE RED CROSS-

Ezra- is Hebrew, was a Jewish scribe and priest, According to the Hebrew bible

he returned from Babylon exile and reintroduced the Torah in Jerusalem, his

name may be a abbreviation of Azaryah which means God helps.

Rehorn- the chancellor, son of Bani. Wrote a letter to the king against the

rebuilding of the second temple.

Shimshai- the scribe, wrote a letter to the king against the rebuilding of the

second temple.

Artaxerxes- King of Persia 465-424

Green Bay Tree- Laurus Nobilis, is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with

green glossy leaves native to the Mediterranean region, figures prominently in

biblical culture.

A. The Holy Royal Arch Masons now have been admitted to the presence in

expectation that you will assume the and represent the character of that

Illustrious Prince whose hands laid the foundation of the second temple and

whose hand the LORD promised should finish the temple.

B. In the second year .of the coming into the house of GOD in Jerusalem in the

second mont h Zerubbabel and Jeshua and their brethren and all that set free

f ro m capt iv ity from twenty years o ld and upward began w ork on the house of the

lord.

C. The priest in their apparel with trumpets and the Levites with cymbals to praise

the lord and they sang together by course in praising and thanks unto the LORD

because he is good and his mercy endureth for ever in Isreal.

D. Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of

captivity building the temple unto the LORD GOD of ISREAL I they came to

Zerubbabel and asked let us build with you for we seek your GOD as you do. But

Zerubbabel said unto them I Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto

our GOD.